Mattress corner construction

ABSTRACT

An improved corner construction for a mattress inner spring unit wherein the corner construction comprises a pair of adjacent spring corner supporting wires that initially lie on the top face of the inner spring unit in a non-supporting position to permit the inner spring unit to be compressed to facilitate shipment. The corner support wires can be rotated to a vertical supporting position at each corner of the inner spring unit so that the corners of the inner spring unit are reinforced and stiffened. In the supporting position one of the corner support wires of the pair is aligned substantially parallel to one side of the inner spring unit and the other corner support wire of the pair is aligned substantially parallel to the adjacent side of the inner spring unit.

0 United States Patent mi 3,6530@ Davis i451 Apr. 4l, i972 [54] MATTRESSCORNER CONSTRUCTICN 3,093,840 6/1963 Manin ..5/351 [72] Inventor: WiltonJ. Davis Rensselaer Ind- 2,2l 1,925 8/l940 Gleason ..5/260 [73]Assignee: Sealy, Inc., Chicago, Ill. Primary Examiner-Casmir A. Nunberg[22] Filed: May 28, 1970 Attorney-Hume, Clement, Hume & Lee

[2l] Appl. No.: 41,208 [57] ABSTRACT An improved corner construction fora mattress inner spring [52] U.S- Cl S/262, 5/256, 5/260, unit whereinthe comer construction comprises a pair of ad- 5/35l jacent springcorner supporting wires that initially lie on the [5 l] Int. Cl. A47623/04, A476 25/00 [Op face 0f the inner Spring unit inra n0n5upp0rtingposition [58] Field of Search ..5/250-264, 351; to permit the innerspring unit i0 be compressed to facilitate 267/91# 92' 95 shipment. Thecorner support wires can be rotated to a vertical supporting position ateach corner of the inner spring unit [56] References cned so that thecorners of the inner spring unit are reinforced and UNITED STATESPATENTS stiffened. In the supporting position one of the corner supportwires of the pair is aligned substantially parallel to one side of3,426,371 2/1969 RObllSOIl the inner spring unit and the other CornerSupport wire 0f the 3,391,412 7/1968 Bl'OnSlen, Jfet alw- -5/260 pair isaligned substantially parallel to the adjacent side of the 3,287,744ll/l966 Drews .5/260 inner spring unit. 3,206,759 9/1965 Kline ..5/3513,200,417 8/1965 Costello ..5/351 18 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures MATTRESSCORNER CGNSTRUCTION This invention relates to improvements in mattressesand, more particularly, to the comer construction for mattress innerspring units.

For the most part, the mattress inner spring units are formed of aplurality of interconnected coil springs arranged in side by siderelation in crosswise and length wise rows between upper and lowerborder wires which are connected to the outermost coil springs in eachof the rows, usually by means of the helical wires, to provide the coilsprings assembly. It has been the practice to reinforce and stiffen theedges and comers of mattress inner spring units with inserts in the formof spring members positioned along the edges and at the comers of thespring assembly between the upper and lower border wires, as describedin U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,287,749 and 3,391,412. Such edge and comerreinforcement members have found widespread use in the bedding eld foradding strength and support to the edges and the corners of themattress, but make it impossible to compress or bale the inner springunit while such members are a part of the inner spring unit. (Bailing,as commonly used in the bedding field, is the process of cornpressingthe inner spring unit as far as possible and securing or tying the unitin this compressed state so that, among other things, shipment may beaccomplished in an easier fashion.) Thus, it has been the practice ofmattress manufactures to add the edge and comer supports to the innerspring unit after receiving the same from the inner spring manufacturer,which requires another operation and further expense.

Briefly, in accordance with the invention, there is provided a generallyrectangular mattress inner spring unit comprising a pair of adjacentresilient corner support wires that are initially positioned so as tolie on the top face of the inner spring unit to be compressed or baledso that shipment may be accomplished with the comer support wiresincluded in the unit. The corner support wires can be rotated to avertical supporting position at each comer of the inner spring unit sothat the corners of the inner spring unit are reinforced and stiffened.In their supporting position, one of the comer support wires of the pairis aligned substantially parallel to one side of the inner spring unitand the other corner support wire of the pair is aligned substantiallyparallel to the adjacent side of the inner spring unit. In thisposition, the comer support wires increase the load carrying ability ofthe corner portion of the inner spring unit.

FIG. 1 is a perspective elevational view of a comer portion of an innerspring unit embodying the features of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the inner spring unit shown in FIG.1;

FIG. 3 is a detailed sectional view of the inner spring unit of FIG. 1taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective elevational view of the comer portion of theinner spring unit of FIG. 1 showing the comer supporting portions in thenon-supporting position;

FIG. 5 is a perspective elevational view of the corner portion of theinner spring unit of FIG. 1 with the comer supporting portions partiallyrotated to the supporting position;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of a fragmentary portion of an innerspring unit embodying a modification of the present invention;

F IG. 7 is a perspective elevational view of a corner portion of aninner spring unit embodying a further modification of the presentinvention.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2,there is illustrated a mattress inner spring unit embodying the featuresofthe present invention and indicated generally by reference numeral 10.The inner spring unit 10 includes comer supporting portions indicatedgenerally by reference numeral 12. Initially, the corner supportingportions 12 lie on top face of inner spring unit 10 so that the unit 10may be baled", but they may be rotated to the supporting positionwherein they reinforce and stiten the comers of the inner spring unit10.

Considering now the mattress inner spring unit 10 in more detail, andreferring to FIGS. Il and 2, the inner spring unit 10 includes acontinuous border wire 16 encompassing the lower face of the innerspring unit 10 and four upper border members 13, each comprising aborder wire portion 14 and the comer supporting portion 12, encompassingthe upper face of the inner spring unit 10. A plurality of coil springs18 are arranged in the area encompassed by the border wire portions 14and the border wire 16 can be in the form of hourglass springs orstraight coil springs arranged in various patterns in the areatherebetween. The coil springs 18 are connected one to another by crosshelical wires 20 which are wound about adjacent coil springs. Theassembly of interconnected coil springs 18 are joined to the border wireportions 14 and the border wire 16 by border helical wires 2l and 22respectively.

In general the comer supporting portion l2 of the border member 13comprises a generally flat U-shaped spring section adapted to beattached to the lower border wire 16. More specifically, the comersupporting portion 12 includes a length of spring wire formed with thepair of vertically spaced parallel arm portions 24 and 26 with anintegral portion 28 interconnecting the end of one arm portion with theend of the other arm portion whereby the arm portions 24 and 26 areresiliently retained in their vertically spaced parallel relationship.Additional integral portions 30 and 32 interconnect arm portions 24 and26, with the border wire portion 14 and a border arm portion 34 adaptedto be attached to the lower border wire 16, respectively. Thus, eachborder member 13 comprises a border wire portion 14 and two comersupporting portions 12 capable of being attached to the lower borderwire 16.

The four upper border members 14 are positioned in the inner spring unit10 so that comer supporting portions 12 are positioned vertically inpairs at each corner with one of the comer supporting portions 12 of thepair aligned substantially parallel to one side of the inner spring unit10 and the other comer supporting portion 12 of the pair alignedsubstantially parallel to the adjacent side of the inner spring unit 10.The border arm portion 34 of each corner supporting portion 12 issecured to the lower border wire 16 by insertion of the border armportion 34 between the lower border wire 16 and the border helical wire22. This is accomplished by pulling the upper border member 13 in adirection parallel to the side of the inner spring unit 10 with which itis aligned until the end of the border arm portion 34 may be slippedinto the helical wire 22 at the comer of the lower border wire 16. Theupper border member 13 is then slowly released while the end of theborder arm portion 34 is directed between the border helical wire 22 andthe lower border wire 16. If desired, additional security can beobtained by fastening together each pair of adjacent comer supportingportions 12 with generally U-shaped clips 36, as, for example, theintegral portions 30 and 32, as illustrated in FIGS. l, 2 and 3, areclipped together. The generally U-shaped removable clips 36 are placedin a fastening position by snapping them over integral portions 30 and32 as illustrated in FIG. 3. Unfastening of the removable clips 36 isaccomplished by slightly pressing together the integral portions 30 ofthe comer supporting portions 12 and pulling the clip away. The U-shapedremovable clip 36 is removed from the integral portions 32 in exactlythe same manner.

The inner spring unit 10 has been described with respect to FIGS. 1-3with the corner supporting portions 12 in their supporting position.However, the comer supporting portions 12 are rotated to theirsupporting position from the top face of the inner spring unit which istheir non-supporting position. Such rotation is accomplished by rotatingthe comer supporting portions 12 about the border wire portion 14. Afterrotation, the border arm portion 34 of each corner supporting portion 12is secured to the lower border wire 16 by insertion of the border armportion 34 between the lower border wire 16 and the border helical wire22. This is attained by pulling the upper border member 13 in adirection parallel to the side of the inner spring unit 10 with which itis aligned until the end of the border ann portion 34 may be slippedinto the helical wire 22 at the comer of the lower border wire 16. Theupper border member 13 is then slowly released while the end of theborder arm portion 34 is directed between the border helical wire 22 andthe lower border wire 16. FIG. 4 illustrates the corner supportingportions 12 lying on top of the inner spring unit 10, this being thenon-supporting position from which they are rotated, as illustrated inFIG. 5, to the supporting position. When all corner supporting portions12 have been rotated to the supporting position, the border arm portions34 are secured to the lower border wire 16 as described above. Thus,each border member 13 comprises a border wire portion 14 and two cornersupporting portions l2 capable of being secured to the lower border wire16.

ln the second embodiment of the invention, illustrated in FIG. 6, theonly modification is in the corner supporting portion 40 of the upperborder members. ln this modification the comer supporting portion 40,rather than having a generally U-shaped spring, has a sinuous-shapedspring attached to an arm portion 42 adapted to be attached to the lowerborder wire 16. The securing and unsecuring of the arm portion 42 isaccomplished in the same manner as the border arm portion 34 discussedherein above with respect to the preferred embodiment. The comersupporting portions 40 may therefore be rotated to a supporting positionin the same manner as the comer supporting portions 12.

FIG. 7 discloses a third embodiment of an inner spring unit wherein thecontinuous border wire 16 and a continuous upper border wire 46 have aplurality of coil springs 18 arranged in the area which they encompass.The coil springs 18 are connected one to another by helical wires 20. Assimilarly disclosed in the FIG. 1 embodiment of the invention, the outermost coil spring 18 are joined to the border wire 46 and 16 by borderhelical wires 21 and 22 wound. A corner supporting member 20 is agenerally flat, W-shaped, spring wire member having a pair of verticallyspaced, resiliently retained parallel arm portions 52 and 54interconnected by an integral portion 56. Additional integral portions58 and 60 connected border wire arms 62 and 64 to arm portions 52 and54, respectively.

The corner supporting members 50 are arranged in pairs at each comer ofthe inner spring unit 10 and are positioned vertically in pairs at acorner of the unit with one comer supporting member S alignedsubstantially parallel to one side of the inner spring unit and theother comer supporting member 50 aligned substantially parallel to theadjacent side of the inner spring unit 10. Securing the cornersupporting member S0 in the supporting position is accomplished byinsertion of the border wire arm 62 between the upper border wire 46 andthe border helical wire 21 and by insertion of the border wire arm 64between the lower border wire 16 and the border helical wire 22. Aftersecuring the comer supporting member 50 to the inner spring unit 10,exercising an optional feature makes the comer supporting member 50non-removable from the upper border wire 46. Such optional feature isaccomplished by bending the end of the arm portion 62 over to form aneye 66. The eye 66 encloses a portion of the border helical wire 21making it impossible to remove the border wire arm 62 from the upperborder wire 46 and consequently impossible to remove the cornersupporting member 50 from the inner spring unit 10. If desired,additional security can be obtained through U-shaped clips 36 fasteningeach pair of comer supporting members 50 together in the same mannerdescribed herein before with respect to the corner supporting portions12 ofFIG. 1

As in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the corner supporting members 50 areinitially in the non-supporting position on the top face of the innerspring unit and can be rotated about the upper border wire 46 to asupporting position. The corner supporting member 50 is secured in thesupporting position by insetting the border wire arm 64 between thelower border wire 16 and the border helical wire 22.

The corner supporting members 50 may, if desired, have a sinuous-shapedspring section, such as illustrated in the FIG. 6

embodiment, rather than the generally W-shaped spring sectionillustrated in FIG. 7.

Although it is not preferred, only one comer support wire may be used ateach comer of the inner spring unit 10. Such a modication could beincorporated into all embodiments of the proposed invention describedherein.

lt will be understood that changes may be made in the details ofconstruction, arrangement and operation without departing from thespirit of the invention, especially as defined in the following claims.

We claim:

l. ln a generally rectangular inner spring unit, an improved comerconstruction comprising a pair of adjacent supporting means at a comerof said inner spring unit and means for rotatably mounting each of saidcomer supporting means in said inner spring unit, each of said comersupporting means having a non-supporting position wherein said comersupporting means do not interfere with the compression of said cornerand each of said corner of said comer supporting means having asupporting position wherein said comer of said inner spring unit issupported by said comer supporting means and each of said comersupporting means being rotatable to said supporting position.

2. In the generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit of claim lwherein said comer supporting means are vertically positioned with oneof said corner supporting means being aligned substantially parallel toone side of said inner spring unit and the other comer supporting meansbeing aligned substantially parallel to an adjacent side of said innerspring unit when in said supporting position.

3. ln a generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit, including acontinuous border wire encompassing a first face of said inner springunit, an improved corner construction comprising:

a. separate border members attached to said inner spring unit, each ofsaid border members comprising a border wire portion and one cornersupporting means;

b. said border wire portions bordering a second face of said innerspring unit; and

c. said comer supporting means being rotatable about said border wireportion to a supporting position.

4, ln a generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit of claim 3wherein each of said border members comprises a border wire portion andtwo comer supporting means.

5. In a generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit, including acontinuous border wire encompassing a first face of said inner springunit, an improved corner construction comprising:

a. four border members attached to said inner spring unit, each of saidborder members comprising a border wire portion and two comer supportingmeans; said border wire portions bordering a second face of said innerspring unit;

c. said corner supporting means being arranged in vertically positionedpairs with one of said corner supporting means being alignedsubstantially parallel to one side of said inner spring unit and theother comer supporting means being aligned substantially parallel to theadjacent side of said inner spring unit, and said corner supportingmeans being rotatable about said border wire portion to a supportingposition; and

means for attaching each of said corner supporting means to said borderwire in said supporting position.

6. In the generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit of claim 5wherein each of said corner supporting means includes a generally flatspring section.

7. In the generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit of claim 6wherein said spring section is sinuous-shaped.

8. In the generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit of claim 6wherein said spring section is U-shaped.

9. In the generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit of claim 5wherein said corner supporting means are attached together when in saidsupporting position.

10. In the generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit of claim 5wherein said comer supporting means includes a border arm portion, saidborder arm portion being secured to said border wire while said comersupport means is in said supporting position and released while saidcomer means is in said non-supporting position.

l1. ln the generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit, includingrst and second border wires encompassing rst and second faces,respectively, of said inner spring unit, an improved comer constructioncomprising a corner supporting member, said comer supporting memberattached to and rotatable about said rst border wire to a'supportingposition, and means for attaching said comer supporting member to saidsecond border wire when said supporting member is in said supportingposition.

12. ln a generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit including rstand second border wires encompassing first and second faces,respectively, of said inner spring unit, an improved comer constructioncomprising:

a. a pair of comer supporting members, each of said comer supportingmembers attached to and rotatable about said rst border wire to asupporting position;

b. said comer supporting members being arranged in vertically positionedpairs with one of said comer supporting members being alignedsubstantially parallel to one side of inner spring unit and the othercorner supporting member being aligned substantially parallel to theadjacent side of said inner spring unit; and

c. means for attaching said comer supporting members to said secondborder wire when said supporting members are in said supportingposition.

13. In the generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit of claim 12wherein each of said comer supporting members is a generally flat springmember.

14. In the generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit of claim 12wherein each of said comer supporting members tnclude rst and secondborder wire arms attached to said first and second border wires,respectively, said rst border wire arm being attached to said rst borderwire by eye" means, said second border wire arm being secured to saidsecond continuous border wire while said corner supporting member is insaid supporting position and released while said corner supportingmember is in said non-supporting position.

15. ln the generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit of claim 12wherein said comer supporting means are arranged in four verticallypositioned pairs.

16. ln the generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit of claim 13wherein said spring member is sinuous-shaped 17. In the generallyrectangular mattress inner spring unit of claim 13 wherein said springmember is Y-shaped.

18. ln the generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit of claim 17wherein said corner supporting members are attached together when insaid supporting position.

1. In a generally rectangular inner spring unit, an improved cornerconstruction comprising a pair of adjacent supporting means at a cornerof said inner spring unit and means for rotatably mounting each of saidcorner supporting means in said inner spring unit, each of said cornersupporting means having a non-supporting position wherein said cornersupporting means do not interfere with the compression of said cornerand each of said corner of said corner supporting means having asupporting position wherein said corner of said inner spring unit issupported by said corner supporting means and each of said cornersupporting means being rotatable to said supporting position.
 2. In thegenerally rectangular mattress inner spring unit of claim 1 wherein saidcorner supporting means are vertically positioned with one of saidcorner supporting means being aligned substantially parallel to one sideof said inner spring unit and the other corner supporting means beingaligned substantially parallel to an adjacent side of said inner springunit when in said supporting position.
 3. In a generally rectangularmattress inner spring unit, including a continuouS border wireencompassing a first face of said inner spring unit, an improved cornerconstruction comprising: a. separate border members attached to saidinner spring unit, each of said border members comprising a border wireportion and one corner supporting means; b. said border wire portionsbordering a second face of said inner spring unit; and c. said cornersupporting means being rotatable about said border wire portion to asupporting position.
 4. In a generally rectangular mattress inner springunit of claim 3 wherein each of said border members comprises a borderwire portion and two corner supporting means.
 5. In a generallyrectangular mattress inner spring unit, including a continuous borderwire encompassing a first face of said inner spring unit, an improvedcorner construction comprising: a. four border members attached to saidinner spring unit, each of said border members comprising a border wireportion and two corner supporting means; b. said border wire portionsbordering a second face of said inner spring unit; c. said cornersupporting means being arranged in vertically positioned pairs with oneof said corner supporting means being aligned substantially parallel toone side of said inner spring unit and the other corner supporting meansbeing aligned substantially parallel to the adjacent side of said innerspring unit, and said corner supporting means being rotatable about saidborder wire portion to a supporting position; and d. means for attachingeach of said corner supporting means to said border wire in saidsupporting position.
 6. In the generally rectangular mattress innerspring unit of claim 5 wherein each of said corner supporting meansincludes a generally flat spring section.
 7. In the generallyrectangular mattress inner spring unit of claim 6 wherein said springsection is sinuous-shaped.
 8. In the generally rectangular mattressinner spring unit of claim 6 wherein said spring section is U-shaped. 9.In the generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit of claim 5wherein said corner supporting means are attached together when in saidsupporting position.
 10. In the generally rectangular mattress innerspring unit of claim 5 wherein said corner supporting means includes aborder arm portion, said border arm portion being secured to said borderwire while said corner support means is in said supporting position andreleased while said corner means is in said non-supporting position. 11.In the generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit, including firstand second border wires encompassing first and second faces,respectively, of said inner spring unit, an improved corner constructioncomprising a corner supporting member, said corner supporting memberattached to and rotatable about said first border wire to a supportingposition, and means for attaching said corner supporting member to saidsecond border wire when said supporting member is in said supportingposition.
 12. In a generally rectangular mattress inner spring unitincluding first and second border wires encompassing first and secondfaces, respectively, of said inner spring unit, an improved cornerconstruction comprising: a. a pair of corner supporting members, each ofsaid corner supporting members attached to and rotatable about saidfirst border wire to a supporting position; b. said corner supportingmembers being arranged in vertically positioned pairs with one of saidcorner supporting members being aligned substantially parallel to oneside of inner spring unit and the other corner supporting member beingaligned substantially parallel to the adjacent side of said inner springunit; and c. means for attaching said corner supporting members to saidsecond border wire when said supporting members are in said supportingposition.
 13. In the generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit ofclaim 12 wherein each of said corner supporting members is a generallyflat spring meMber.
 14. In the generally rectangular mattress innerspring unit of claim 12 wherein each of said corner supporting membersinclude first and second border wire arms attached to said first andsecond border wires, respectively, said first border wire arm beingattached to said first border wire by ''''eye'''' means, said secondborder wire arm being secured to said second continuous border wirewhile said corner supporting member is in said supporting position andreleased while said corner supporting member is in said non-supportingposition.
 15. In the generally rectangular mattress inner spring unit ofclaim 12 wherein said corner supporting means are arranged in fourvertically positioned pairs.
 16. In the generally rectangular mattressinner spring unit of claim 13 wherein said spring member issinuous-shaped
 17. In the generally rectangular mattress inner springunit of claim 13 wherein said spring member is Y-shaped.
 18. In thegenerally rectangular mattress inner spring unit of claim 17 whereinsaid corner supporting members are attached together when in saidsupporting position.